


Main Engagement

by ashinan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 09:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9378713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashinan/pseuds/ashinan
Summary: After receiving a distress beacon, Team Voltron head to a planet besieged by the Galra. However, the inhabitants aren't just under attack from space: a cataclysmic storm brews in the atmosphere below. Lance delves beneath the clouds to weed out exactly what's causing the disturbance. It's definitely not as easy as it looks.Part 3 of Heading to War. Written for the Voltron Season 2 Countdown!





	

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe we're almost at season 2??? In _two days_??? I'm so nervous! Anyway, this is part 3 of the Heading to War collection! If you haven't already, please do start [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Heading_To_War/works/9350345) with dear [Mumble](http://mumblefox.tumblr.com) who gets us started on this adventure! [Boss](http://bosstoaster.tumblr.com) follows up [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9369254), and this two parter will be completed tomorrow by a very amazing [Lisa Onions](http://butteredonions.tumblr.com). Enjoy!!

More often than not, the castle was silence. It creaked, sure, and sometimes hummed in an alarming manner, but for the most part it was quiet. Lance never did well with silence, seeking out noise whenever he could, and more so after the whole fiasco with the castle going loco on them. There was something in the shadows, a general threat that Lance couldn’t shake no matter how many times Coran told him it was safe. The castle had betrayed them once; Lance would rather not risk being alone if it happened again.

After helping Coran fit the last of the mini-crystals into place in the training deck, Lance had been left to his own devices. Hunk hadn’t sent word that he was done with his calibrations yet, and though Lance desperately wanted to break into a movie or two to wind down, he’d rather the castle be fixed, thanks. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he wandered the halls in hopes of finding someone else to bother. He would be content with even Keith at this point.

Thankfully, he found Hunk in the lounge, a tablet projecting the familiar blink of Pidge’s code. Still working, just like Lance assumed. No movie time yet. Boo. Lance hopped over the back of the couch, flopping down beside Hunk. “Castle giving you trouble?”

“Just about done,” Hunk said, smiling softly before he squinted at another line of text.

Worming his way over, Lance dropped his head down onto Hunk’s thigh with a happy hum. Hunk sighed, lifting the pad so Lance could get comfortable, but didn’t shift him off. The eerie silence was interspersed with the soft sound of Hunk breathing and the bright whir of the tablet. It was calm.

The sudden alarm, however, was not.

“Really?” Lance groused, shifting up when Hunk stood. “We had plans! Fun plans! Movie plans!”

“Dude, I’m surprised we even made it this long without something going wrong. Up you get.” Hunk hauled Lance up. Lance stuck out his bottom lip, hurrying after Hunk as they made their way through the castle. They met up with Pidge, grumpy and with her glasses tangled in her hair, and found Shiro and Keith already on the bridge.

The star map was in full glow, draped over the bridge in twinkling strands. Most of the planets had Galra red stamped on them, but those that surrounded Allura were a docile blue. One in particular hummed an alarmed yellow and Allura cocked a brow as the Garrison Trio joined up with everyone else.

“We’ve received a distress beacon from a planet not far from here,” Allura said, contracting the star map until it was a single planet, brilliant and glowing. Two moons orbited around it. “They are not yet controlled by the Galra.”

“How far away are they?” Shiro asked, crossing his arms.

Coran tapped a few keys. “Just a quick jump from our current position; shouldn’t take more than a couple of ticks.”

“Last time you said a couple of ticks it took us _hours_ ,” Lance complained, sprawling out in his seat. Hunk leaned a hip against the side. “What’s the distress signal even about? Are we going to have to deal with someone’s broken down ship again?”

“Maybe you’ll get shackled to something more interesting this time,” Pidge said. Lance stuck his tongue out at her.

“Focus,” Allura said, commanding their attention. “Unfortunately, we do not have enough information on the planet nor its inhabitants. As it stands, the Galra must not control another planet in this sector. Understood?”

“Yes Bossma’am.” Lance kicked his legs over the side of the chair, tapping a toe against Hunk’s thigh. Hunk batted at him. “Voltron to the rescue, yeah?”

“If there are people down there, we have to protect them,” Keith said simply. Lance narrowed his eyes but Keith wasn’t even looking, reaching out to touch one of the orbiting moons instead.

Before Lance could open his mouth, Shiro said, “Get to your Lions, everyone. If we’re going into a firefight, I don’t want us scrambling beforehand.”

Allura nodded in agreement. “We will jump to the coordinates once everyone is prepared. Coran?”

While Coran dialed in the coordinates for the jump, they made their way to their Lions. Blue perked up as Lance drew closer, curiosity a swirl against Lance’s thoughts. He settled in the pilot’s chair, batting away her constant poking, and brought up the comm channels. Keith and Pidge were already boarded and waiting, Shiro coming into view shortly after. Hunk was last, though he hadn’t struggled with the zip line this time.

“We’re ready to head out on your command, Princess,” Shiro said. Allura popped up on the screens, nodding, and the ship hummed ominously. Lance brought up different screens, trying to calibrate the gun mechanisms to distract himself. Blue threw up her own codes for Lance to fiddle with, a welcome diversion, and the castle eased its way into the wormhole.

Immediately the ship rocked at the entry, the hangar shuddering. Lance gripped the controls, glaring at the screen with Blue’s codes on it. They’d only jumped twice since the mishap with the castle. This was fine. Everything was going to be fine.

Shiro popped up on the comms. “If we’ve intercepted a transmission, likely we’re going to meet resistance. Pidge, cloak on and take in the perimeter. Keith, distract. Hunk and Lance, irritate.”

“I can be irritating,” Lance said, grinning weakly.

Shiro chuckled. “You do that. Once we’ve established what’s going on, we’ll regroup and fight our way through. Understood?”

A chorus of agreement rang over Lance’s comms. Allura appeared back on screen. “We’ll be dropping out shortly. The distress signal has weakened and I worry that the Galra might already be planetside. Paladins, prepare.”

True to her word, the castle dropped out of the wormhole and immediately Blue locked in to the launch pad. The castle shook, a quick rattle of motion, and Lance thumbed on Allura’s comm again. “Allura?”

“The planet is under attack by a Galra fleet. With Pidge’s new tech, we should be able to remain undetected and surprise them.” Allura flicked a piece of hair back over her ear, gaze hard. “Remove them.”

“Done and done,” Lance said, gripping the controls. Blue rumbled around him, eager. The launch pad counted down. Lance breathed out.

They launched.

The roll of the planet crawled up on Lance’s screen first, a yellow-green marble that was overtaken by swirling gray clouds. Allura had dropped them out right near the Galra fleet, its forces quietly hovering over the worst of the storm. Ships darted to and fro, still unaware of the Lions’ approach. The fleet was smaller than Lance was expecting: four gunships, a battlecruiser, and three transporter ships dangled over the atmosphere. Drone ships swarmed. If the planet had sent out the distress signal calling for aid, that alone meant they had no space support to help against the Galra. Even if they did, the sickening swirl of the storm brewing in atmo was enough to ground them; the Galra were moving uncontested toward the planet’s atmosphere, and with their heavy artillery, would likely do terrible damage.

“Remove the gunships first,” Shiro said. “We can’t let them get a lock on the castle. Pidge, sweep around and tell us what that storm is. Everyone else, it’s go time.”

Blue roared, her thrusters coming online, and threw herself into the midst of the fleet.

Within seconds, Blue and Lance had decimated a gunship, tearing apart the plating and ripping up the insides, drone ships thrown into space without pilots. Tension rattled under Blue’s paws and Lance pulled her back right as the ship imploded, flames snarling into space before immediately dissipating. Blue whirled, darting for the second gunship, and Yellow and Black slammed into the third. Red took off above them, straight for the battlecruiser, and Lance pulled Blue back and away from most of the fleet.

“Three ships following behind you, Keith!” Lance called.

“Got it.” Red slammed on her brakes and the three drones flew right by her. With ease, she shot them down, before continuing toward the main battlecruiser.

“Show off,” Lance grumbled. Keith snickered.

With the second gunship gutted, Lance dragged Blue back and away to the outskirts of the fleet. He brought up a second window and it lit up with locations of the enemy forces, Blue’s gaze catching and cataloging positions. Lance used her information to track incoming and outgoing forces. Gunships one to three were dead in the water, so to speak, bleak empty shells careening into each other. The transport ships panicked, throwing out their little drone ships in fear. Lance squinted an eye, bringing up a third screen. Blue rumbled in acquiescence.

With a flick of his fingers, Lance said, “Hunk, think our collective firepower can destroy the remainder of the transport ships?”

“Gimme a moment.” Hunk’s screen popped up, a frown of concentration on his face as Yellow dug her claws into the final gunship, ripping it clean open. Galra sentries floated out into space around her, metallic confetti, and Yellow shoved her whole face into the space, jaw opening. The gunship bulged, leaking blue-white light, and then shattered outward. Lance and Blue danced backwards. Nice. Hunk breathed out and turned his attention back to Lance.

“I have Yellow’s cannon but I don’t know if it’ll work against all the drones.” Yellow dodged a swarm of ships, swiping with vicious claws and chomping down on the sentries that buzzed too close to her mouth. “She has about ten lasers the beam can break into and we’re looking at - what, fifty drones? At least?”

Shiro broke in, “Keith will keep the battlecruiser off us until we’re able to clean up the rest of them.”

Together, Lance and Hunk dove for one of the main transports, slamming into opposite sides and crumpling it together like tissue paper. The drones startled, jerky shadows and bleeding purple, before they surged towards Blue and Yellow.

Lance jerked Blue to the side to shake off three of them, whirling her around and catching two more with her tail cannon. Yellow caught multiple in her mouth, crunching them into dust, before she lashed out with fierce claws and ripped four apart. The swarm didn’t abate. Lance taunted them into chasing Blue, blasting into the fray around Yellow until he grabbed their attention. The drones twisted. Yellow lashed out and removed a sizable chunk of them in one fell swoop.

“Watch out!” Shiro called, and rockets rained from above, showering over the drones and detonating in a series of delicate yet deadly explosions. Blue darted back and away, Yellow on her tail. Black’s wings flared, her thrusters illuminating her in a halo of light. The drones froze beneath her, pinned by the fury of her onslaught, trapped by the ring of explosions that corralled and decimated the stragglers.

Once the fire had been snuffed out by space, all that remained of the transporter and its quarry was a single drone ship, listing, purple light flickering. Lance lifted a hand, finger gun style, and Blue shot it down.

The second transporter suffered the same fate, falling before it had a chance to fully utilize its drone cache. Hunk and Lance cleaned up while Shiro made a run for Keith, who was effectively keeping the battlecruiser occupied. Once Lance had weeded out the final drone, he twisted Blue around and rocketed up to join the others.

The battlecruiser glowed, a glittering behemoth outlined against the void. Keith and Shiro darted back and forth in front of the Ion Cannon, removing chunks of paneling before dancing away. The shields were still on, reflecting most of their attacks, but the more it flickered, the more power it consumed. Hunk dashed forward to provide support. The drones fought to repel them, but Keith’s aim was devastating and Shiro’s shields covered the both of them from retaliation. It was a bit unfair to the Galra, actually.

Pidge popped up on screen. “Guys, I don’t think the distress beacon was for the Galra attacking. It was because of the storm.”

“The storm?” Keith asked.

Pidge nodded, frowning. “Yeah. The entire planet is nearly covered in a single event; it’s crazy. The cloud cover is so dense that I can’t get a super clear picture on what’s happening, but the readings I’m getting aren’t good.”

“If it’s a storm, Blue and I can handle that,” Lance said confidently. Blue hummed her agreement.

“No, we have to take out the battlecruiser before it can call for reinforcements,” Shiro said urgently. Black slammed into the shield around the Ion Cannon, claws raking devastating electric rows into its fading shell. “Once that’s done, we’ll head down together.”

“The storm is shifting,” Pidge cut in. “We won’t be able to get down there if we don’t hurry.”

Lance bounced between possibilities, between ideas, and whirled Blue. Green hovered just above the pull of the atmosphere. Lance reached up and flicked a button. “If we have eyes on the ground, we can relay what we see to everyone else here, right?”

“Lance,” Shiro started.

Waving a hand, Lance continued. “Pretty sure Pidge wouldn’t bring it up if it wasn’t dire. We need eyes on the ground. I’m your eyes. Blue and I can handle a little crappy weather, can’t we, girl?”

Blue hummed. Shiro sighed. “I want continuous communication, you got it?”

Lance saluted. “Right-o, Bossman.”

As Lance darted for the planet, Yellow finally broke the shield on the Ion Cannon. Red immediately landed on it, fire pouring from between her teeth as she cleaved the Cannon cleanly from the ship.

“Nice!” Lance shouted, pausing to watch. Keith barked out a surprised laugh, right as Black swooped in to protect them both from the resulting explosion.

The battleship lulled, the drones vibrating in shock. They recovered, twisting, and shot straight for Keith and Shiro. With Black curled protectively around Red, they couldn’t separate in time to take on the drones. If it was anyone else, Lance would drag Blue back around to help. Except -

Yellow slammed into three drones from behind, taking them out in one fell swoop. The others scattered, startled, and Yellow used the distraction to her advantage. Black and Red separated, corralling the escaping drones, while Yellow helped decimate their remaining numbers.

“Knew you guys didn’t need help,” Lance said smugly. Hunk chuckled and Lance resumed his descent to the planet.

Pidge’s information appeared on the third screen; the density of the storm was thickening, deepening. A hurricane mixed with a typhoon, culminating in a devastating singular event that would render the planet uninhabitable. Lance had to get down there. Blue echoed his determination.

Zipping by Green, Lance threw up different avenues to get through the storm, Blue sorting through and picking the ones most feasible. They entered atmo at a shallow dive, Blue’s toes barely dragging over the surface before she was yanked down. Blue jerked but ultimately didn’t fight it. They fell, a controlled descent that Lance adjusted for. The clouds rose up to meet them, the stragglers from above whipping past and over Blue’s gaze. Lance grit his teeth against the shift in gravity. Blue compensated.

The clouds parted and clashed beneath them, a swirl that seemed to solidify the faster they approached. Lance braced for impact. Blue tucked her feet up against her body, prepared.

“Lance, shift your trajectory three clicks right!” Pidge said, static on his screen. Lance blinked, bringing up the location of the Green Lion. He startled when Green appeared right beside them, clouds streaming off and over Green’s head and chest.

“What - Pidge, _what are you doing_? You’re not equipped for this!”

Pidge gritted her teeth and Green swerved close to Blue. “Neither are you. You can’t fall into a storm like this; the clouds are too thick. If we don’t cut through on an angle, the force will flatten the Lions like pancakes.”

Lance cursed, bringing up his trajectory. He plugged in Pidge’s suggestion and Blue snarled, kicking out a paw. The drag of the air adjusted their descent just enough to angle them, though it was a close one. Green followed them down, just behind. The clouds rushed up, the storm howling around them, swirling viciously like a whirlpool. They hit the thicker turbulent clouds at an angle.

The impact shattered through the cockpit. Immediately visibility dissolved to zero. The violent clouds buffeted Blue around like a toy, and Lance swore, clinging to the arms of his chair. They were still going at an angle, cutting through the worst of the wind, but the pure _force_ behind it was insane. Heading straight into this thing would’ve been a deathwish; Pidge was right. Pidge - _quiznak_. “Pidge? Pidge! Are you there?”

“Just beneath you,” Pidge rattled back, her comms shaking. “Green and I didn’t hit the angle just right. We’re hurt.”

Wincing, Lance squinted into the ensuing fog. There was nothing in front of them except gray mystery, rain thundering heavy against Blue’s eyes. “Okay, listen. Can you see the Blue Lion?” Pidge paused before nodding. Lance brought up his keyboard. “Tuck up under her as much as you can. When you’re close enough, we’ll grab on and carry you both through this.”

“Got it.”

Lance shifted the view of the cameras to the underside, praying that Green was close enough to slip underneath Blue. Sure enough, Green’s ears appeared, rising slowly but keeping pace with Blue. A _crack-boom_ shook Lance to his core. Light exploded over the monitors, lightning snapping past them in a thick chain of pure destruction. Wind picked up. Green’s head was visible now and Lance adjusted Blue’s own trajectory, lowering her just enough.

It was a mistake.

The shift in momentum tilted Blue forward too far, the wind catching under her jaw and yanking at her shoulders. She tipped forward, a sudden and sickening lurch, and Lance nearly slapped his face into the keyboard. Blue snarled against his thoughts, just barely compensating. Green rammed into Blue’s stomach, shoving them further out of alignment, and Lance frantically fought against the ensuing tumble. Blue latched onto Green. They arched around each other, a sickening swirl of colour amongst the ferocity of the blackened storm.

Before Lance could shout, curse, warn Pidge that this was definitely not part of the plan, Blue slammed on her thrusters and managed to drag them out of the tumultuous fall. Green tucked up close under Blue’s chin, metal groaning. It was lost in the quick-fire crack of lightning, the brilliant burst over Blue’s eyes, and the ensuing rumble of thunder. They had to find a way out and _fast_.

The comms sparked, a hiss of static. Shiro’s voice crackled through, before dissipating. Lance fought to switch channels, trying to find a clearer one, but the storm interfered. Blue’s tumbling likely hadn’t helped. When he swiped through another set, Shiro rang through, clear but for a moment.

“Shiro?”

“How?” Shiro hissed out. Lance could barely see him through the static, though he didn’t seem happy. “ _Dammit_ , they got the signal for reinforcements off.”

“Do you need us back?” Lance asked. The storm whipped around them, vicious, and Lance desperately hoped Shiro said no. There was no way they could cut back through the storm. Blue loudly seconded his thought.

Shiro shook his head. “No, it’s just a small fleet, but I’m worried there will be more. Allura and Coran are dropping their cloaks to help. Get eyes on the ground and relay back.”

Before Lance could reply, another flash of lightning ricocheted across the sky. The comms went static and then silent as the wind picked up. Blue yowled. Lance fought to remain in his seat. The rain lashed across Blue’s face, a literal waterfall that obscured their view even more. Wind picked at Blue’s paws, at her sides and her head, desperate to throw her off course once more. Lightning hovered, circling the Lions, playing for an opening. Lance tried for Shiro again. Blue fought to remain on course.

“I can’t get through to Shiro. Pidge?”

The comms staticked, Pidge’s voice echoing through but not quite distinguishable. Lance cursed. How far into the storm were they? Had their stunt irreversibly altered their course? Were they heading straight into the heart of the storm instead of out of it? Blue shook against his thoughts, her worry festering and uncertain. She had no idea if they would end up plummeting straight for the ground or be lost in the labyrinth of wind and rain.

Neither option was good.

Another snarl of lightning whisked right by Blue’s nose, the static in its wake cascading over Blue’s shoulders and down her back. She yowled, hunching forward. Green tucked further into Blue’s belly, trapped but protected, and Lance stared furiously out Blue’s eyes. They had to be almost through. They had to.

All at once, the storm spat them out, the clouds parting suddenly and without warning. Wind slapped hard into Blue’s side, sending her into an uncontrolled spin. Lance fought to compensate but they were going too fast and it was impossible without releasing Green. Damned if Lance was going to allow that to happen.

Pidge solidified on his screen, her helmet rucked up and eyes wide with fear. “Lance!”

“We’re almost out, we’re going to be okay,” Lance said immediately, hating the shiver of his voice. Blue was still careening out of control, the motion trackers in the cockpit saving him from the worst of the vertigo. Lance couldn’t offset their velocity. Blue howled against his thoughts. The rain slashed cruel over Blue’s gaze, the world an eerie water painting of blacks and greens, muddy browns and turbulent grays. The ground was coming up too fast. They were falling _too fast_.

Pidge grabbed the edge of the comm, steadying it. “Blue needs to let us go, we’re going to drag you both down.”

“She’s fine. This is fine!” Lance bit out.

“Lance! We can both compensate for the drag if we’re separate!”

The rain was too heavy; Blue was barely able to keep her ports clear. Green was dead weight, unable to fight against the rain; being smaller and lighter, she wouldn’t be able to keep up. Lance refused to consider the possibility. Blue did too. “We’ll figure something out. I’m not letting you drown.”

“I won’t _drown_ ,” Pidge snapped, furious, though uncertainty trembled in her tone. “Lance -”

Blue’s trajectory began to even out, her vicious somersaulting coming to an end. But they were too close to the ground. He’d severely underestimated how low the storm was hovering, how quickly the ground was approaching. They were too close - Lance scrambled at the controls, fear clogging his throat. “Pidge, _Pidge_ , brace for impact!”

“What -”

With a resounding _boom_ , they slammed into the ground. Blue screamed, her thoughts tumbling viciously over Lance’s, white blotting out his vision as they skidded over rain ravaged terrain. Blue fought for purchase, Green trapped beneath Blue’s bulk as they were dragged along. Lance barely managed to remain upright. Mud splattered up and over Blue’s eyes, blotting out the sky and casting everything into blue pocked shadows. Lance reached for the console. Blue dug in her claws, howling, screaming, fury and pain giving her strength.

They finally ground to a halt. Lance leaned over his chair and heaved.

Rain splattered against Blue’s eyes, slowly wiping away the mud. She groaned against Lance’s thoughts, pained but still functional. Lance wiped the back of his hand against his mouth. That was - terrible. Holy crow, that was the _worst_. Lance’s stomach roiled, unsure, and Lance hung his head over the side of the chair. Definitely never wanted to do that again.

“Pidge?” Lance croaked out. When he twisted his head, Pidge’s comm window was dark, though flickers of green light tumbled at the corners. “Pidge, you there?”

“Can I not be?” Pidge groaned back, forcing herself into frame. The blue lights of her suit cast her in a sickly pallor. “Quiznak, Green and I both hated that. You okay?”

Lance nodded, straightening. “Blue’s a bit banged up but we’re both okay. Can you see anything?”

Pidge shook her head, though light was beginning to filter back into the cockpit. “Too much mud. The rain should wash it off soon though.”

Lance climbed to his feet, reaching up to run his fingers over one of Blue’s many panels in comfort. She trilled a purr at him, forcing her limbs under herself as she pushed up. Mud sloughed off her face, her eyes, and Lance could finally see.

For miles, rain fell. Everything was painted in fuzzy detail, an eraser taken to the edges of the world and smudged with careless abandon. The gray clouds above churned restlessly. Wind whipped past on all sides, the clouds twisting together into vicious funnels and touching down in the distance.

It was pandemonium.

“We’re stuck,” Pidge said suddenly, furiously, and Lance dropped back down in his seat to grab for her comm video. “Green can’t get up.”

“Crow. Okay, give us a second. You up for some heavy lifting, Blue?”

Blue hummed, though it was significantly weaker than her usual fanfare. When she moved, her paws stuck to the ground, the mud seeping between her toes and sucking her down. Lance couldn’t do anything to help. Blue bowed her great head until Green was in view and caught her by the back of the neck, lifting her bodily up and out of the mud. She gently set Green back on her feet and Green shook, nearly slipping back into the mud with a yowl.

“Okay, yeah, you’re not going to be able to stand up in this nonsense. Can you follow us?” Lance bounced his cameras around, scouring for dry land or at least _dryer_ land. Off in the distance, there was less rainfall, though not by much. Blue perked up against his thoughts, agreeing with his plan. “There’s less rain this way. Hopefully, it’ll buy us some time.”

Pidge nodded and Green carefully wormed her way forward. She definitely wasn’t made to thrive in watery climates; each step, her paws sunk deeper, her movements became more jagged and unsure, her head bowed under the curtain of rainfall. By the time she reached Blue, Blue had no choice but to catch Green by the scruff again and haul her out of the sticky mud.

It was slow going, Blue taking careful precautions to set her feet just so. The added weight of Green didn’t help, dragging them deeper into the mud and forcing Blue to exert more energy to lift herself out of it.

“Can you try to get a hold of Shiro? The last transmission I got from him was about reinforcements incoming,” Lance said. Pidge nodded, going to work. The streaks of mud on Blue were nearly gone, the world beyond her hazy and uncertain. It was beautiful though. Stunning. Lance desperately wanted to feel that rain.

Finally, Blue found solid ground under her great paws, her pace increasing as she trotted over to a more stable patch of ground. When Green was released, she immediately curled back into Blue’s chest, head bowed forward. Water dripped from every inch of her and Lance didn’t doubt it was the same for Blue. At least now that they were away from the thick mud, everything was a bit more stable.

“Any luck?” Lance asked, bringing up his screens.

Pidge shook her head. “Not yet. The storm is causing a lot of interference.”

Running a quick diagnostic on Blue found most of her systems intact and okay. The thrusters were working, if a bit depleted, and Blue’s nose plate was dented, but she was fine. Lance heaved a relieved sigh. If she was okay, then they would be okay. “Well, now that we’re down here, I’m going to see what I can see. What channel was the distress signal on?”

Pidge fired the code over to him, returning to her own work. Lance scanned through the channels, hoping to pick up the distress signal in more clarity here. Sure enough, it came through loud and clear. Lance frowned. It didn’t mention anything about the Galra nor did it talk about the storm that the planet was being ravaged by. Just two syllables, repeating over and over.

_Help-no._

Waaaaaaait.

Lance squinted. Before he could repeat the message _just to be sure_ , a notification flickered up on his comm. Blue picked at the coding, gave him location and time of note. “I just received a message from somewhere on planet.”

“That’s eerie.” Pidge leaned back, folding her arms. “Open it?”

Lance tapped on it and the message expanded out. It was an open comm link. An open _empty_ comm link. Lance sat up, leaning close to the screen. In the background, thick tree trunks rose out of frame and gleaming metal meshed their uncertain seams together. The floor was springy moss, a delicate baby blue, and strange electronic machinery disappeared off to the right side.

“Hello?” Lance called.

A face loomed into frame, a thick black snout and shimmering eyes. Lance jumped. The alien was either enormous or couldn’t quite figure out how the camera worked. The creature snorted and said, “You are from Voltron-no.”

No _way_.

Lance blinked, unable to find the words. The alien - _the Ka’alia_ \- bowed further into frame, a single eye lining up with the camera lens. “You-no have come to help-no us?”

That - wow. Okay. _Okay_. “Can you - back up? A bit? Please?”

The alien snorted, taking two large steps back. Still wasn’t fully in frame, but at least Lance could see it now. And, yup, that was definitely one of the Ka’alia, one of the horse-deer-elk aliens they’d helped on what Lance had named Operation: Small Crystals. What the actual quiznak. _How_? How was that possible?

This one was slightly larger than Dreyak, with a head fully adorned with bone-white antlers. Soft tendrils of gold spiraled along the antlers and continued down the great beast’s shoulders and chest. Clinging to the side of the Ka’alia’s neck was an Asperion, a delicate shading of charcoal and cotton, with luminous eyes like diamond. It cocked its head at the screen, burying long fingers into the Ka’alia’s neck fur.

Lance squinted and said, slowly, “We’re here to help-no.”

The Ka’alia bowed its head in thanks. Pidge’s screen moved above the Ka’alia’s, her eyebrows up. “What did you just say?”

Lance winced. The Ka’alia was waiting patiently, head slightly bowed to get a better angle. The Asperion was reaching slowly, _so slowly_ , toward the camera. “Uh, it’s a speech thing these aliens have, they add a flag? To their words? I don’t really get it, but Hunk says it’s important so the little ones on their necks can understand what we’re talking about.”

“Yeah, no, I got that.” Pidge typed something quick into her screen and exhaled sharply. “But how do you know it?”

“We met them on planet when we were getting the crystals.” Lance paused, suspicious. “Wait, how do _you_ know about it?”

Pidge waved a hand. “Keith and I helped one out when we were hunting for data.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Lance asked, indignant. The Asperion’s clawed fingers inched ever closer to the screen. “Pidge! They’re aliens! We promised to share all cool alien stories with each other!”

“Well, now you’ve met them.” Pidge swung her attention to the side. “What happened-no to your planet-no?”

The Ka’alia blew out a breath. “The artifact-no was brought back with Dreyak and activated-no. It did not react as inscribed. The clouds came first and then the rains. We feared-no the worst-no when the ground turned to ruin. Roion spoke of Voltron-no. We knew you would come-no.”

Another crackle of lightning worked across the clouds, followed by a cataclysmic boom. The ground shuddered, Blue digging in her claws to retain her footing. Green hunched closer to Blue’s chest. Lance peered up at the turbulent sky where thick clouds roiled, swirling in a worrying manner. The rain was creeping closer to their small dry patch.

“We’re here now at least,” Lance said. “Perpetual rainfall not your thing, huh?”

The Ka’alia shook its head, the Asperion squeaking in offense. “It was meant to save us, not wreak such havoc upon our planet.”

“What can we do?” Pidge said.

Blue’s thoughts spiked with worry as the ground beneath them began to give, the constant rain mixing heavily with the ground to create a near deluge of mud. Lance quickly brought up another screen, trying to compensate for the drag, but Green wasn’t helping. Though hunched as close to Blue as she could be, she wasn’t prepared for the slip of the land beneath her. If Blue couldn’t cage her in, they’d both go down.

Biting his lip, Lance tried another algorithm and Blue took it into account, scooting her paws beneath Green’s to create a space for the other Lion to stand upon. Pidge breathed out as Green stabilized, her worry clear in the furrow of her brows. It wasn’t the best solution, but it was all Lance could manage right now. He opened up a separate channel, hoping to get a hold of Shiro or Hunk or, hell, even Keith, but it was all static, blocked by the rain.

The camera suddenly shifted, the Asperion bringing it slowly, so slowly, toward its own face. Its fluffy, curious face. Oh boy. Lance waited a moment, eyebrows ratcheting up, but the camera kept...slowly...moving.

While this Asperion was of different colouring than Haikon, their mannerisms were achingly familiar. The whole ‘passing of the orb’ adventure still haunted Lance’s thoughts; Haikon, being the hands of the operation, had been the only one Lance could hand the orb off to. The sheer frustration of having to wait for Haikon to take the orb and then carefully remove it from Lance’s grasp still boiled in Lance’s limbs.

While Lance waited, Pidge said, “Okay, I think I figured it out. With the rain, I can’t get a signal through the storm. But with Blue’s comms, I should be able to boost my own signal and break through. I don’t know how long we can stay down here before Green slides.”

“Yeah, it’s not a long term solution. Whatever you can do to get the others down here would be stellar,” Lance said.

The Asperion finally halted the camera. At least it had this video-thing figured out more than the Ka’alia, holding it at an angle that allowed Lance a view of its softly furred face and brilliant eyes. And, of course, its slowly, _slowly_ , opening mouth. “Remove.”

Well, that was new. “Remove? Remove what? What do we need to remove?”

Blinking its glowing eyes at Lance, the Asperion slowly tilted its head to the side. Lance cursed. “I mean, what-no do you want us to remove-no?”

With all the speed of growing moss, the Asperion lifted one long fingered hand. Slowly, it curled its fingers into a fist except for one, pointing straight up. Lance wiggled in his seat. The Asperion trilled and said, “Remove.”

“That tells me exactly nothing,” Lance muttered.

The Asperion opened its mouth again, the fur around its chin fluttering. “Artifact.”

“What about the - oh. Oh! Remove the artifact! Wait, is that why you’re pointing up? It’s up?” Before the Asperion could look suitably confused, Lance switched over to Pidge’s comm. “The artifact is in the sky. We have to take it out so the storm will stop.”

“It’s in the sky?” Pidge frowned, typing fast. “How’d they even get it up there?”

Lance shrugged. The Ka’alia tilted back into focus, curious. Lance addressed it. “If we get that thing out of the sky, the storm will stop?”

“Uncertain,” the Ka’alia shook its antlers. “The artifact-no was created to save-no planets like ours. It was meant to bring us relief-no. Something has gone wrong-no. With removal-no, the storm should abate.”

Nodding, Lance grinned when Pidge exclaimed in excitement. Score. “You got it, buddy. We’re just waiting on the cavalry.”

The storm shifted, winds angling downward. The rain splashed up and over Blue’s paws, mud sucking at the bottoms of her feet. Blue spiked unease over Lance’s thoughts.

Oh _no._

“Pidge, if the cavalry could get here a _bit_ faster, that would be awesome.”

“I’m working on it,” Pidge said, tightly.

A screen popped up: temperature. The temperature was falling. The last thing they needed was for this all to freeze. With Green standing on Blue’s paws, and the water splashing up and over _cold metal_ , freezing to the ground would be bad. Really bad.

“Anytime, Pidge!”

“Do you want to do this?” Pidge snapped.

Lance worried at his lip. _Come on, Shiro._ The temperature continued to plummet, Green creaking closer, Blue lifting and dropping her paws. She wouldn’t be able to keep that up for long. Lance brought up a screen, frustratingly helpless against the onslaught of the storm. They were running out of time.

_What was taking them so long?_

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't already, check out the [voltron season two countdown](http://voltrons2countdown.tumblr.com/) tumblr for more goodies! 
> 
> [First](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Heading_To_War/works/9350345) | [Previous](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9369254) | [Final](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Heading_To_War/works/9391031)


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